


Something Unpredictable (But in the End)

by steeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeb



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Hawkeye (Comics)
Genre: Also a tweet from Clark Gregg that confirms Coulson can sign, American Sign Language, Angst, Coulson has secrets, Coulson is a CODA, Deaf Clint Barton, pure angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-26
Updated: 2014-09-26
Packaged: 2018-02-18 19:43:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2359958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/steeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeb/pseuds/steeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeb
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Coulson drags Clint to a graduation, of all places.  And Clint learns something new about Coulson that he would never guess in a million years: Coulson is a CODA.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Something Unpredictable (But in the End)

Clint already decided that he _hated_ graduations.

Graduation day at SHIELD was always short, quick, to the point. College graduation is apparently the slowest fucking thing on God’s green earth. To be fair, Clint never went to college. He never even went to high school, actually, and graduated from SHIELD on more of a technicality than anything else. And SHIELD’s graduation lasted all of a half hour and included four other people.

Why Coulson dragged him to this thing, Clint had no idea. If Coulson was bored he definitely refused to even hint at it, and instead he watched every single name that flashed on the giant video wall to the right of the auditorium. At the bottom of a screen, an interpreter popped up in a little box for speeches and whatever a convocation might be. Who knows. All Clint remembered of it was some inspirational crap. Clint definitely didn’t know about College-ception. He had to ask Coulson why there were colleges within colleges and only managed to draw attention to himself when he accidentally (and loudly) blurted out “Wait, what?”

_I thought we were at Columbia_ , Clint signed. _Why are other colleges here?_

Coulson’s eyebrows barely lowered as he processed what Clint meant. _Other colleges? You mean like ‘Arts’ and ‘Teacher’s College’? They’re just different departments, like SHIELD has R &D and Medical as two separate divisions. _

That made sense. Somewhat. If anything it made this whole graduation process unbearably slow. Clint shifted in his seat or slumped as far down into it as his knees would allow until they touched the seat directly in front of him. Coulson barely moved, only looking down to check the occasional text message. When the last person in each college received his or her diploma and spectators were allowed to applaud, Clint sat up momentarily to watch. For some reason seeing people clap helped him remember the sound, or at least connect what he remembered to what he could hear now. Not much, just a rumble of the auditorium clapping. He remembered clapping was a very sharp action but he had trouble mentally thinking of the sound.

At the beginning of each college a man in a fancy robe (and hat that looked fucking _ridiculous_ ) would stand in front of the podium and say something about that college’s achievements. Clint didn’t give a fuck. None of what he said made sense and he had no concept of what any of their achievements meant. Clint wasn’t stupid by any means, just uneducated. The circus didn’t allow him time for an education. Tutors tried, once upon a time, but Clint had more important things to do than to sit and do useless math. And now that he passed 30 the idea of formal schooling was pointless. He knew what he needed to know for SHIELD and occasionally for when the Avengers needed him, and that suited Clint just fine. Clint knew tactics and strategies and how to cut out a man’s lung with a blunted arrow head, but he never needed to know what the goofy looking E meant in mathematics. It doesn’t typically come up when you’re being shot at.

When the giant screen flashed “College of Law,” Coulson visibly shifted. Clint shoved his knee against Coulson’s and shrugged; as long as Clint knew Coulson he rarely showed emotion beyond sarcasm or what was required for an op, so seeing Coulson’s response concerned Clint. _What is it?_

Coulson pointed back at the screen. _Watch the names._

Whatever the fuck that meant. Clint shrugged his shoulders again and sat back in the seat to relax his neck somewhat, reading through the names as best he could. Some of the foreign students’ names he had difficulty reading, but Clint figured they weren’t important if Coulson didn’t give him a name before all of this started. _Hey, isn’t this where Murdock graduated?_

Coulson ignored him and pointed back at the screen, practically holding his breath. Clint merely looked confused until he saw _the_ name.

_Jonathan Robert Coulson, Jr._

Clint must have made some kind of noise, because those sitting around him craned their necks to look at him. He stared at the figure projected on the screen and analyzed his features as the man, somewhat younger than Clint, received his diploma and shook the administrator’s hand. This Jonathan person’s face shared many of the same features as the Coulson sitting next to him. The sad, empathetic blue eyes must be a family trait. When the man stepped off the stage and returned to his seat, awash in a sea of square hats, Coulson finally turned back to Clint.

_He’s deaf_ , Coulson stated as if Clint had some previous knowledge of this other Coulson.

_Is he a cousin or something? I thought you didn’t have any family._ Clint didn’t know if he should be surprised or just fucking angry that Coulson had yet another secret for Clint to uncover.

_Jack’s my baby brother. Jack, Jr. We call him JJ._

Clint was manually tongue-tied. He started one sign then abandoned it in the middle, so caught off guard his brain wouldn’t process words.  _What..when did…just, why?_

Coulson’s shoulders slumped, practically unnoticeable to those who had not known the man for ten years or better. _You asked me why I knew how to sign. Look over there, in the corner of the first row._

Clint followed Coulson’s direction to see a small group of individuals signing furiously to one another, oblivious to the rest of the auditorium and caring for the other names about as much as Clint did. In the middle of three men sat a woman who shared more of Coulson’s features than the oldest looking man. To two younger men on the end looked exactly the same.

_That is my family. My dad, John, then my mom Judith, and the last two are twins. Adam and Daniel. Jack is the youngest. All deaf._

Clint watched Coulson sign it. He understood the words and their individual meanings, but in Clint’s brain the ideas refused to connect to Coulson. Coulson was such a solitary individual and never revealed his personal life; Clint often joked that Coulson didn’t even have a personal life to begin with. SHIELD was Coulson’s life. At least, Clint thought it was. The news that Coulson had a family felt like a kick to his gut for some reason. He sat nearly stock still and momentarily wanted to punch that stupid fucking sly grin off Coulson’s face.

_I brought you here because a few months ago you said the exact same things JJ said before he started law school. ”I can’t do it, I’m useless, they don’t need me.” You said that nearly every day for a month. JJ didn’t think it was even possible to become a lawyer, and you just watched him receive proof that he can. You had your ten minutes of self-loathing and that’s all I’ll allow. So next time you want to say those things I’m going to refuse to listen._

Clint could only stare, his mouth working as if he wanted to say something. The words never came. He sat back in his seat as if Coulson just knifed him in the gut. They’d known each other for ten years and this is the first time Coulson ever mentioned his family. The last of the law degree recipients returned to their seat, and Clint blinked when he felt the rumble of clapping against his ears. Coulson clapped, the saddest smile Clint had ever seen stretched across his face. And just as soon as Clint saw Coulson’s face, the clapping stopped and the next college lined up to receive their diplomas. Coulson returned to his original blank self as if he were a mannequin momentarily come to life only to return to its immobile state. Clint somehow sat through the last of the remaining colleges (only two, thankfully) and barely noticed when it was time to leave. Coulson shook his shoulder to get him moving. 

As they walked towards the exit, Clint continuously stopped to stare back at the family Coulson never mentioned. He watched pieces of Coulson’s face mirrored in his parents and his younger brothers as they laughed and wiped away tears. Saw Coulson’s father shake Jack’s hand and his mother stretch to wrap her arms around Jack’s shoulders, as one of the twins popped the square hat off his head and the other flip open the diploma cover. They didn’t say much. Judith dabbed at her eyes with a tissue and even from rows ahead Clint could see her words.

_I wish Phil were alive to see this._

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, that's my twitter account :D


End file.
